Title: See the Light
Author: Cassandra Carr
Cover Artist: Mina Carter
Publisher: Loose Id
Buy Links: Amazon; Publisher
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novel (41,702 words)
Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by jeayci
Review Summary: PWP that didn’t even work as that for me because I found the sex boring.
Blurb: Hockey player Jason Monroe lives a double life—star defenseman and soon-to-be Olympian on the ice and closeted gay man outside the rink. A serious relationship is out of the question, and Jason makes do with anonymous sex in barroom bathrooms, not willing to take the chance on coming out as gay in a decidedly macho sport.
Advisor to the US Olympic hockey team Patrick Parker knows a thing or two about being a professional hockey player who’s not out. He’s fifteen years older than Jason, and when he senses the sexy younger man is interested, he knows he shouldn’t give in to the attraction.
The two men can’t keep their hands off each other, though, and with each heated encounter it gets harder to hide their relationship. When their world blows up around them, forcing them into the limelight, though, will their love survive or be put on ice?
Review: An m/m romance involving an NHL player and the Olympics was already a hat trick as far as I’m concerned, so how could it be anything other than awesome? Unfortunately, I discovered the answer to that: it could be PWP. Though if the “porn” had been hot and sexy, I could at least have enjoyed it for that, but I’m afraid I mostly found it boring. Too much telling, not enough showing.
From the beginning, I wondered what was so special about these guys. They were apparently more hot for each other than either had ever been for anyone before. Hot enough to take all sorts of risks and try things they would never previously have even considered. We’re told, constantly, but I never saw what made either of them so special for the other, and that frustrated the heck out of me.
There were also several things that made no sense to me, like when one or both main characters acted like teenage girls and I had no idea why they were so moved. And there was one scene that involved some jealousy, but only because one character made a bizarre leap from A to Q in his assumptions. Again, rather high school-like. A few times Jason, the big, burly defenseman in the freakin’ NHL, demonstrated an inability to fight and an equally bizarre tendency to essentially swoon after being involved in conflict.
There was a big melodramatic event, the one hinted at in the blurb that forces them into the limelight. And all the usual post-melodramatic event stuff occurred. I won’t say exactly what, because that would be spoilery. But if you’ve read more than a dozen romance novels or seen a few Hollywood romantic comedies, you have a pretty good idea.
We all have different tastes, and there are several very favorable reviews, so I recommend reading the excerpt. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have read this book, as some of my issues are noticeable in the excerpt. I was too excited by the hockey premise and my eagerness to try a new-to-me author to think to check that out. This is apparently her first m/m book, but she seems to have a lot of fans for her previous books. So if you enjoy the excerpt, you’ll probably enjoy the rest.
My thoughts EXACTLY on this book… although, if you managed to finish reading it, you did better than I did. I gave up about half way through because it was most definitely PWP, but neither of the P’s were working for me; I couldn’t even force myself to make it to the big melodramatic moment. (Once again, I’m reminded of why I shouldn’t pay attention to glowing reviews on Amazon…)
Thanks, Bridget, for the comment and the sympathy! 🙂 I wouldn’t have finished it either, if I didn’t have to review it. :grumble2:
I’m so sorry to hear this–hockey and m/m are my two favorite things! I must admit, I’ve only found a couple of hockey m/m books that I enjoy so far (actually, one book and one short story)–I vastly prefer the RPF out there (though those have built-in canons and are thus easier to flesh out well). I love the sport because there’s so much going on, and most of the books distill it down to one or two things (that usually don’t ring true for me). It would really be nice to see a hockey story that’s more about the camaraderie than the angst (which seems so overplayed to me). I think people zoom in on the intensity of the game and the fights, and forget about the teams and the brotherhood…
Agreed on all counts! 🙂 Have you read Isa K.’s hockey books yet? So far I’ve only read the freebie short, but I loved it and am really looking forward to reading How to Quit Playing Hockey. In fact, I may read that next, since my impression is that it’s more what I expected/hoped this one would be.
I’ve only read the freebie short (which I really liked, and forgot to mention), but I keep forgetting to pick the novel up–gotta remedy that! Carter Quinn’s “I’m Every Goalie” short is a good free read that you should be able to find by searching the Coffee and Porn in the Morning blog. I really liked Riley Shane’s IN THE PENALTY BOX a lot, but haven’t read TWO-MAN ADVANTAGE yet (maybe just as well, since someone on Joyfully Jay felt that that one was a little too short/simple plot-wise).
Thanks for reminding me about the Carter Quinn short. 🙂 Riley Shane’s In the Penalty Box was 3.5 stars for me, but I don’t seem to have left myself any comments along with the rating. Two Man Advantage was 3 stars, with the following comment:
It would really be nice to see a hockey story that’s more about the camaraderie than the angst (which seems so overplayed to me).
I agree. I hope some authors get inspired by this statement. 😀
Indeed. I love sports-related books in general, but since hockey is my favorite sport I particularly want more hockey books. 😀
Oh. Looks like “sex becomes plot” book? So not for me. Thank you Jess for saving me some money.
“Sex becomes plot” is a great way to describe it. I get the impression that if you find the sex hot, you can at least enjoy it as PWP. Unfortunately for me, I thought the sex was boring. :doh: If you think you might want it for that, I can share a quote or two so you can decide for yourself… :whistle:
Okay hockey fans, here are 3 recs. They are all books that I reviewed and you can find them on the site. You may not have heard of them or read them because they aren’t new:
Blood on the Ice by A.M. Riley June 2010 (Smashwords)
Home Ice by Kate Sherwood – Ellora’s Cave
In the Penalty Box by Riley Shane – Loose id
Check out the reviews and then decide if you want to buy the books. I think the A.M. Riley book is either .99 cents or $1.99.
Great review Jess. Too bad that this “sports” book isn’t really about hockey
Thanks, Wave! 🙂 I loved Home Ice, and second your recommendation for it. I swear I read Blood on the Ice, but it must have been in my pre-Calibre (and thus pre-rating) days. I remember liking it but not loving it. I read two hockey books by Riley Shane and felt the same way about them; at least, I rated them both 3 stars.
And yeah, this book really didn’t seem to have much to do with hockey, unfortunately. 🙁
Bias alert: I loved See The Light and I’m looking forward to Ms. Carr’s follow-up book which continues the story of two secondary characters from this book and provides an update on Patrick and Jason as well.
I’m sorry to hear that See The Light didn’t work for you as a realistic M/M romance. It sounds like you didn’t particularly respect the characters or their motivations, which is fair since as you rightly pointed out, we do all have different tastes. Many of the things you pointed out as not working for you such as the overwhelming instant sexual attraction (aka “insta-lust”) and the melodramatic event which forces the characters’ hands are common in the romance genre as you already know. But in this case, they didn’t work well for you, and while you’re entitled to your opinion (hell, it’s your blog, damn right you’re entitled *grin*), I have to say that the way you snarked about these things sounded to me more like someone mocking romance novels as a genre rather than a criticism specific to this book. But that, like the rest of this post, is merely my own opinion. 🙂
Thanks for commenting and sharing another perspective! I love how differently we all experience the same books, and it’s great to hear about what made something work for someone else that didn’t work for me, or vice versa. 🙂
Good point about not respecting the characters or their motivations. I wanted to, but I never felt like I got enough sense of either for there to be anything for me to respect. Obviously, you felt differently, and that’s what makes horse races (which I also love). 😀 To clarify, I have no objections to insta-lust, but insta-love is one of my big pet peeves; especially when the latter is confused for the former. This book struck me as one of those cases, so it hit a big personal peeve.
I’m sorry it came across to you like I was mocking romance novels as a genre, as that certainly wasn’t my intention. I love romance novels, and have read more of them than pretty much any other genre for… more years than I want to think about. 😆 However, despite loving the genre, I don’t love every trope within it. And I was particularly disappointed by this book because I went into with an expectation that it would hit several of my high points and discovered that instead, it hit my low ones.
I’m glad it worked for you and I really appreciate you sharing that here!
I completely agree wit you M Harvey!
Jeayci, although I found the jealously scene a bit off; I understood why Jason was jealous but at the same time I thought his reaction was a bit much, this was but one scene in the entire book.
There was real attraction, real chemistry between Jason and Patrick in SEE THE LIGHT, lots of it. They fought against breaking the rules and coming out at what seemed like a very difficult time.
That’s why, imo, there was more internal dialogue than you might find in some other books. However, in my opinion, this was in no way PWP. I’m sorry you didn’t ‘feel’ that the way many others, including M Harvery and I, did upon reading SEE THE LIGHT.
I personally read this book in one sitting, so obviously I’m on the opposite side of the fence from you 🙂
I respect the fact that everyone has their own ‘take’ on a book but to say that SEE THE LIGHT was so bad you could only give it 1.5 stars compared to the Gold Star Review I gave it? http://caribbeanaccentbookreviews.com/?p=1346
I guess this is where we agree to disagree.
I hope readers take the time to read bad AND good reviews of SEE THE LIGHT before deciding whether or not to buy the book.
I agree with a couple of your later commentors. I have read more than a few books that the insta-lust/love was unbelievable and didn’t fit into what I thought was acceptable for that particular book but that is the gist of it. Some books you need and want the insta-lust. Some people even say there is such a thing as love at first sight or waking up one day and seeing a face you have known your entire life and realizing that you are in love. I enjoyed Ms. Carr’s book. Like Sasha I read it in one sitting. Loved their connection and can empathize with their battle to either give in (and yes anywhere and everywhere) or to fight it. Their dialouge was necessary to get into their heads. I wasn’t telling IMO. But again that is my opinion and I will buy the next book in the series. Ms. Carr might be new to the M/M genre but she is a pro at writing erotic romance.
Their dialouge was necessary to get into their heads. I wasn’t telling IMO.
In addition to my general comment below, I want to reply specifically to this bit. It wasn’t the internal thoughts or dialogue that I meant when I said it was more telling than showing. I high-lighted one sex scene that I thought made for a good example, telling what the characters were doing and feeling rather than showing us.
I’m not sure this blog is SFW anyway, but I’m kinda reluctant to just post a sex scene out in the open. So I’m going to see if a spoiler tag works. If it does, I’ll add the scene behind a spoiler so I can give a specific example of what I’m talking about.
ETA: I’m glad I tested that, since it didn’t work. 😆 I could swear there’s a way to do spoiler tags and hide things in the comments here, that I saw someone do it at some point. If I can figure out how, I’ll add the scene. 🙂
I wanted to comment and say thanks to people coming in to say what they liked about the book. A big shout out to Jayce for being so enthusiastic in the reception of differing POVs. I love the celebration of differences, and agreeing to disagree is allowing eachother to be ourselves.
Thanks so much for the open and accepting conversation. I loved hearing different people’s perspectives. They are all interesting and valid in themselves. :sendoutlove:
Like Reggie said, I really appreciate the diversity of opinions people are sharing here. :hearts01: I am curious if there may be a single factor underlying the different interpretations, or at least a single factor that makes a major difference between loving this book or not. I’m a scientist, and can’t help asking these sort of questions, so please bear with me. 😆
I could be totally wrong, but my hypothesis is that having read a lot or a little M/M romance in the past is the key factor in how much one enjoys this book. From the other reviews I read and the comments here, it seems to me that most of those who love this book came to it as fans of Cassandra Carr and were mostly new to “straight” (ha! 😉 ) M/M romance. Whereas most of those who were unfamiliar with this author but came to the book after having read lots of M/M were less thrilled with it.
I have no idea if that’s true. Or even what it might mean if it is true. But that’s what I think I’ve observed. What do y’all think, is there any merit to that idea? 😕
I agree with Sasha. This is a terrific book and the author is obviously aware of the camaraderie between hockey players. If you’ve read any of her other books, you know that she stresses the emotional connections between players. She also has a prodigious knowledge of hockey and her books ring true from the play to the life off the ice.
I don’t see the portions that you worry about sounding telling to be that at all. With two men who have never had a m/m relationship, I thought Ms. Carr did a fine job relating the angst and fears of the pair. Internal conversation is is not telling– it is just that, the inner thoughts you go through to make a major life decision.
Ms. Carr is a terrific author and several of her books have been nominated for various book of the year awards. If you truly dislike this entry, try one of her others before judging her as an author. Try Cold as Ice for hockey or one of her bullrider series: Momentum, Collision, etc.
Thanks for commenting and sharing your opinion. 🙂 I hope it didn’t sound like I was judging the author! 😮 I was sharing my opinion of the book, not the author. I love hockey stories and have no objections to m/m/f books, so I may try one of her other books. I like reading about bullriders too, so thanks for the recs. 😀
NSFW NSFW NSFW
I haven’t figured out how to put it behind a spoiler tag, but I’m going to share an excerpt from one sex scene to show 😉 you what I mean when I say “telling” instead of “showing”. For the sake of contrast, I’m also going to add an excerpt of approximately similar length and equivalent point in the activity from Home Work by Kaje Harper. Both are the paragraph leading up to climax. Full disclosure: I’m picking a scene from that book because I beta’ed it and so could find quickly exactly the sort of thing I have in mind.
Here’s a paragraph from See the Light:
And here’s a paragraph from Home Work:
In the first excerpt, it’s telling me what’s going on without giving me the visceral details to feel it. In the second, I get that, and I’m right there with the characters. That’s the sort of thing I mean when I’m talking about telling vs. showing. Does that help? And apologies to anyone who might’ve been at work! 🙂